Oklahoma football: Where does OU rank among the best recruiting teams in college football?

The 2023 Oklahoma football recruiting class not only ranked in the top five in all of college football but was the best class the Sooners have delivered this century and a definite feather in second-year head coach Brent Venables’ cap.

That’s according to 247Sports’ college football recruiting class rankings dating back to 1999, which not coincidentally was the first season of the Bob Stoops coaching era at Oklahoma.

The Sooners have been bringing in top-20 recruiting classes ever since Stoops arrived in Norman. And that has continued the past five years during the time Lincoln Riley and Venables have been at the helm of Oklahoma football.

In case you haven’t seen it, Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press sports staff has put together a composite ranking of the best college football recruiting schools over the past five recruiting cycles (2017-21).

Not surprisingly, Alabama is No. 1 with an average ranking of 2.0. Georgia is next (2.2). Then there is a drop off. The next three schools are Ohio State, with an average ranking of 6.0, followed by LSU (6.8) and Clemson (8.2).

The Oklahoma Sooners are next on the list with an average ranking of 9.2. Texas A&M (9.6), Texas (10.8), Florida (11.0) and Oregon (11.4) round out the top 10.

Both 247Sports and ESPN ranked the Sooners’ 2023 class as the fourth best in the country. But before we can realistically trumpet the merit of this class, it will be up the Venables and the Sooner coaching staff to translate those high prospects into production on the field and, most importantly, wins on the scoreboard.